In regards to the integrated systems of libraries, the primary purpose of the Recommendations is to:

improve discovery and use of library resources

articulate a clear set of expectations for developers

make recommendations applicable to existing and future systems

ensure the recommendations are feasible

support interoperation and cooperation

be responsive to the user and developer community

To this end the Recommendations list a set of abstract functions integrated library systems “should” implement, and it enumerate a number of concrete bindings that can be used to implement these functions. Each of the twenty-five (25) functions can be grouped into one of four overall categories:

After describing the things outlined above in greater detail, the Recommendations get down to business, list each function, its parameters, why it is recommended, and suggests one or more “bindings” — possible ways the function can be implemented. Compared to most recommendations in my experience, this one is very easy to read, and it is definitely approachable by anybody who calls themselves a librarian. A few examples illustrate the point.

The Recommendations suggest a number of harvest functions. These functions allow a harvesting system to specify a number of date ranges and get back a list records that have been created or edited within those ranges. These records may be bibliographic, holdings, or authority in nature. These records may be in MARC format, but is strongly suggested they be in some flavor of XML. The search functions allow a remote application to query the system and get back a list of matching records. Like the harvest functions, records may be returned in MARC but XML is prefered. Patron functions support finding patrons, listing patron attributes, allowing patrons to place holds, recalls, or renewals on items, etc.

There was one thing I especially liked about the Recommendations. Specifically, whenever possible, the bindings were based on existing protocols and “standards”. For example, they advocated the use of OAI-PMH, SRU, OpenSearch, NCIP, ISO Holdings, SIP2, MODS, MADS, and MARCXML.

From my reading, there were only two slightly off kilter things regarding the Recommendations. First, it advocated the possible use of an additional namespace to fill in some blanks existing XML vocabularies are lacking. I suppose this was necessary in order to glue the whole thing together. Second, it took me a while to get my head around the functions supporting links to external services — the OPAC interaction functions. These functions are expected to return Web pages that is static, writable, or transformative in nature. I’ll have to think about these some more.

It is hoped vendors of integrated library systems support these functions natively or they are supported through some sort of add-on system. The eXstensible Catalog (XC) is a good example here. The use of Ex Libris’s X-Server interface is another. At the very least a number of vendors have said they would make efforts to implement Level 1 functionality, and this agreement been called the “Berkley Accord” and includes: AquaBrowser, BiblioCommonsCalifornia Digital Library, Ex Libris, LibLime, OCLC, Polaris Library Systems, SirsiDynix, Talis, and VTLS.

Within my own sphere of hack-dom, I think I could enhance my Alex Catalogue of Electronic Texts to support these Recommendations. Create a (MyLibrary) database. Populate it with the metadata and full-text data of electronic books, open access journal articles, Open Content Alliance materials, records from Wikipedia, and photographic images of my own creation. Write reports in the form of browsable lists or feeds expected to be fed to an indexer. Add an OAI-PMH interface. Make sure the indexer is accessible via SRU. Implement a “my” page for users and enhance it to support the Recommendations. Ironically, much of this work has already been done.

In summary, and as I mentioned previously, these Recommendations are a step in the right direction. The implementation of a “next generation” library catalog is not about re-inventing a better wheel and trying to corner the market with superior or enhanced functionality. Instead it is about providing a platform for doing the work libraries do. For the most part, libraries and their functions have more things in common than they have differences. These Recommendations articulate a lot of these commonalities. Implement them, and kudos to Team DLF ILS-DI.